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Abbreviated and contracted words are a common feature of Japanese. Long words are often contracted into shorter forms, which then become the predominant forms. For example, the University of Tokyo, in Japanese becomes , and "remote control", ''rimōto kontorōrā'' (remote controller), becomes ''rimokon''. Names are also contracted in this way. For example, Takuya Kimura, in Japanese ''Kimura Takuya'', an entertainer, is referred to as ''Kimutaku''. The names of some very familiar companies are also contractions. For example, Toshiba is a contraction of "Tokyo Shibaura", and Nissan is a contraction of "Nippon Sangyo". The contractions may be commonly used, or they may be specific to a particular group of people. For example, the is known as by its employees, but this terminology is not familiar to most Japanese. ==Patterns of contraction== Japanese words are spelled using characters that represent syllables (morae), rather than individual phonetic units (phonemes) as in the English alphabet. These characters are compiled into two syllabaries: hiragana and katakana. Japanese also makes extensive use of adopted Chinese characters, or kanji, which may be pronounced with one or more syllables. Therefore, when a word or phrase is abbreviated, it does not take the form of initials, but the key characters of the original phrase, such that a new word is made, often recognizably derived from the original. In contracted kanji words, the most common pattern of contraction is to take the first kanji of each word in a phrase and put them together as a portmanteau. In the example from the lead, using , the ''Tō-'' of ''Tōkyō'' and the ''Dai-'' of ''Daigaku'' becomes , the common abbreviation for the University of Tokyo. There are also instances in which alternative readings of a particular kanji are used in the contraction. For example, Nagoya's main subway station, Nagoya Station, is referred to by locals as , a contraction of , in which the alternative reading of ''Na-'' (名), the first character in "Nagoya", is used. In loanwords and names, the most common pattern is to take the first two morae (or kana) of each of the two words, and combine them forming a new, single word. For example, "family restaurant" or ''famirī resutoran'' becomes ''famiresu''. Yōon sounds, those sounds represented using a kana ending in ''i'' and a small ''ya'', ''yu'' or ''yo'' kana, such as ''kyo'' count as one mora. Japanese long vowels count as two morae, and may disappear (the same can be said for the sokuon, or small ''tsu''); Harry Potter, originally ''Harī Pottā'', is contracted to ''Haripota'', or otherwise be altered; actress Kyoko Fukada, ''Fukada Kyōko'', becomes ''Fukakyon''. These abbreviated names are so common in Japan that many companies initiate abbreviations of the names of their own products. For example, the animated series ''Pretty Cure'' marketed itself under the four-character abbreviated name ''purikyua''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Japanese abbreviated and contracted words」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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